aiki14
02-15-2007, 09:00 AM
I thought this was funny, from the Dow Jones Newswire (not my usual source for comedy but you go with what you get):
By David Weidner
A Dow Jones Column
The Big Apple is a flyover town. A pit stop en route to places where they
actually do business.
New York is bucolic, provincial, unsophisticated, simple. There are just 8.1
million of us. Are we at risk? Let's just hope this turnip truck doesn't hit a
bump. Is Gotham in danger of losing its status as a financial capital? In the
world of capitals, New York isn't even the capital of its own state.
The New York Society of Security Analysts, which is hosting a series of
meetings and speakers Thursday, is the latest group to tackle the so-called
issue of New York's ability to compete among the world's financial markets.
The alarms have been ringing so loud for so long, you have to wonder if there
is anyone left in this town to attend.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Charles Schumer and "et tu" Gov. Eliot Spitzer
joined hands Jan. 23 to trumpet a 142-page report by McKinsey & Co. that
concludes New York is on its way out as a financial capital. The cause, of
course, is excessive regulation. Some of the decline also appears to be due to
frivolous lawsuits - apparently, the same sort that brought down Rome.
They say it is a city without purpose. Technology has eliminated the need to
actually be in New York. The Yankees haven't won a World Series in seven
years. The sky is falling, and we don't just mean the mounds of sleet and snow
that blanketed this small town in the last 24 hours.
A 'Serious' Threat
The city has little to boast about. Financial services represent only 15% of
the city's economy, compared with 8% for all of the U.S. Only six of the
world's top 10 financial institutions by market value are based in New York,
McKinsey said. The bonus pool reached a record $24 billion at the end of 2006.
Employment is near 2000 tech-bubble levels.
Sure, it sounds great. But McKinsey says it's all as good as gone.
There is $51 trillion in U.S. stock, but $38 trillion in Europe, $13
trillion in Asia excluding Japan, $20 trillion in Japan. The U.S. market is
growing at a 6.5% rate compared with between 6.8% and 15.5% for other regions.
The problem is obvious: How did we ever let them get that much stock? Must
have happened on Clinton's watch.
"The U.S. generates more revenues from financial services than any other
region," the smart guys at McKinsey wrote. "But, once again, the rest of the
world is challenging that leadership in the hotly contested investment banking
and sales and trading markets.
"It is clear that the country and the City need to take this threat
seriously."
Bet they're having a good laugh in London over that one. Threat? New York is
so over there are actually loonies out there who argue that the Rotten Apple
is actually booming. These folks, the kind who will tell you that the moon
landing wasn't staged, say that the city isn't in any danger of losing its
status.
Crackpots, Loonies And Kooks
"New York's finance sector is hardly 'rotting,' " wrote legal columnist
Nicole Galinas, but "the perception that it is falling behind, already
grounded in reality, will help shape the future."
These crackpots also have the audacity to challenge the facts by suggesting
that the people up in arms about the decline are political hacks or business
folks seeking to peel back investor protections.
"The paranoia that Bloomberg showed in commissioning the report in the first
place is to be expected from a leader whose business career was based upon
killing off incumbent service providers," wrote Stephen Brown in Hong Kong's
The Standard. New York "remains head and shoulders above anywhere else in
terms of the quality of its professional workforce."
These kooks aren't just in the media. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Chief
Executive Jamie Dimon called the issue a "parochial" one in a presentation
Jan. 30 and that any move overseas wouldn't have a dramatic impact on the
bank's shareholders.
As if Dimon isn't brushing up on his Mandarin and getting used to afternoon
tea.
'Daring And Risk Taking'
Irwin Stelzer, the Hudson Institute senior fellow and columnist for the
Sunday Times who has his main residence in London and a weekend retreat in New
York, is also one of those conspiracy theorists. He argues that the threat of
New York losing its financial status is overstated.
"As far ahead as we can see, New York will remain the premier financial
capital of the world," he said. "New York is a magnet for the world's talent.
It's still the most exciting. The excitement level in New York is unmatched in
London."
Stelzer believes the city attracts people who "live off daring and risk
taking" and therefore attracts the best and brightest of the financial field.
"Don't get taken in by this argument that Sarbanes-Oxley is the cause of all
the problems. I could list you the cost of every regulation in Washington.
"The benefits are a little harder to tabulate."
Stelzer and all of his what-me-worry friends with straw in their teeth can
tabulate by themselves in between the tumbleweeds. The real action is in
places where they eat with utensils: London, Frankfurt, Mumbai, Jakarta,
Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong.
Think about it. Why would Bloomberg, Schumer and Spitzer lie about such a
thing?
(David Weidner covers Wall Street for MarketWatch.)
-By David Weidner; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-15-07 0754ET
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
By David Weidner
A Dow Jones Column
The Big Apple is a flyover town. A pit stop en route to places where they
actually do business.
New York is bucolic, provincial, unsophisticated, simple. There are just 8.1
million of us. Are we at risk? Let's just hope this turnip truck doesn't hit a
bump. Is Gotham in danger of losing its status as a financial capital? In the
world of capitals, New York isn't even the capital of its own state.
The New York Society of Security Analysts, which is hosting a series of
meetings and speakers Thursday, is the latest group to tackle the so-called
issue of New York's ability to compete among the world's financial markets.
The alarms have been ringing so loud for so long, you have to wonder if there
is anyone left in this town to attend.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Charles Schumer and "et tu" Gov. Eliot Spitzer
joined hands Jan. 23 to trumpet a 142-page report by McKinsey & Co. that
concludes New York is on its way out as a financial capital. The cause, of
course, is excessive regulation. Some of the decline also appears to be due to
frivolous lawsuits - apparently, the same sort that brought down Rome.
They say it is a city without purpose. Technology has eliminated the need to
actually be in New York. The Yankees haven't won a World Series in seven
years. The sky is falling, and we don't just mean the mounds of sleet and snow
that blanketed this small town in the last 24 hours.
A 'Serious' Threat
The city has little to boast about. Financial services represent only 15% of
the city's economy, compared with 8% for all of the U.S. Only six of the
world's top 10 financial institutions by market value are based in New York,
McKinsey said. The bonus pool reached a record $24 billion at the end of 2006.
Employment is near 2000 tech-bubble levels.
Sure, it sounds great. But McKinsey says it's all as good as gone.
There is $51 trillion in U.S. stock, but $38 trillion in Europe, $13
trillion in Asia excluding Japan, $20 trillion in Japan. The U.S. market is
growing at a 6.5% rate compared with between 6.8% and 15.5% for other regions.
The problem is obvious: How did we ever let them get that much stock? Must
have happened on Clinton's watch.
"The U.S. generates more revenues from financial services than any other
region," the smart guys at McKinsey wrote. "But, once again, the rest of the
world is challenging that leadership in the hotly contested investment banking
and sales and trading markets.
"It is clear that the country and the City need to take this threat
seriously."
Bet they're having a good laugh in London over that one. Threat? New York is
so over there are actually loonies out there who argue that the Rotten Apple
is actually booming. These folks, the kind who will tell you that the moon
landing wasn't staged, say that the city isn't in any danger of losing its
status.
Crackpots, Loonies And Kooks
"New York's finance sector is hardly 'rotting,' " wrote legal columnist
Nicole Galinas, but "the perception that it is falling behind, already
grounded in reality, will help shape the future."
These crackpots also have the audacity to challenge the facts by suggesting
that the people up in arms about the decline are political hacks or business
folks seeking to peel back investor protections.
"The paranoia that Bloomberg showed in commissioning the report in the first
place is to be expected from a leader whose business career was based upon
killing off incumbent service providers," wrote Stephen Brown in Hong Kong's
The Standard. New York "remains head and shoulders above anywhere else in
terms of the quality of its professional workforce."
These kooks aren't just in the media. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Chief
Executive Jamie Dimon called the issue a "parochial" one in a presentation
Jan. 30 and that any move overseas wouldn't have a dramatic impact on the
bank's shareholders.
As if Dimon isn't brushing up on his Mandarin and getting used to afternoon
tea.
'Daring And Risk Taking'
Irwin Stelzer, the Hudson Institute senior fellow and columnist for the
Sunday Times who has his main residence in London and a weekend retreat in New
York, is also one of those conspiracy theorists. He argues that the threat of
New York losing its financial status is overstated.
"As far ahead as we can see, New York will remain the premier financial
capital of the world," he said. "New York is a magnet for the world's talent.
It's still the most exciting. The excitement level in New York is unmatched in
London."
Stelzer believes the city attracts people who "live off daring and risk
taking" and therefore attracts the best and brightest of the financial field.
"Don't get taken in by this argument that Sarbanes-Oxley is the cause of all
the problems. I could list you the cost of every regulation in Washington.
"The benefits are a little harder to tabulate."
Stelzer and all of his what-me-worry friends with straw in their teeth can
tabulate by themselves in between the tumbleweeds. The real action is in
places where they eat with utensils: London, Frankfurt, Mumbai, Jakarta,
Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong.
Think about it. Why would Bloomberg, Schumer and Spitzer lie about such a
thing?
(David Weidner covers Wall Street for MarketWatch.)
-By David Weidner; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-15-07 0754ET
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.